* '''Time diff'''. This is the number of hours to be added or subtracted from [[en:UTC|UTC]] to find your [[en:time zone|time zone]]. This time zone is used when calculating displayed page update timestamps, and may become temporarily incorrect from time to time if you observe [[en:daylight saving time|daylight saving time]] -- don't forget to update it to match ''your'' local time, because the Wiki doesn't know where you are or precisely when you celebrate DST. (Also, the server's clock may be slightly offset from reality, much as Wikipedia articles may be.) A scattering of typical (and possibly incorrect!) time diff values are below. If yours isn't listed, try [http://www.timeanddate.com/time/abbreviations.html this link] or add and subtract a few hours as needed.

+

* '''Time diff'''. This is the number of hours to be added or subtracted from [[w:UTC|UTC]] to find your [[w:time zone|time zone]]. This time zone is used when calculating displayed page update timestamps, and may become temporarily incorrect from time to time if you observe [[w:daylight saving time|daylight saving time]] -- don't forget to update it to match ''your'' local time, because the Wiki doesn't know where you are or precisely when you celebrate DST. (Also, the server's clock may be slightly offset from reality, much as Wikipedia articles may be.) A scattering of typical (and possibly incorrect!) time diff values are below. If yours isn't listed, try [http://www.timeanddate.com/time/abbreviations.html this link] or add and subtract a few hours as needed.

The time is displayed in local time, according to the set preferences, in:

The time is displayed in local time, according to the set preferences, in:

Line 233:

Line 233:

Threshold for stub display:

Threshold for stub display:

</pre>

</pre>

−

* '''Number of titles on recent changes''': You may select the number of changes which will be shown by default on the [[MediaWiki User's Guide: The Recent Changes page|Recent Changes]] and [[MediaWiki User's Guide: Using the Watchlist|Watchlist]] page. Once on those pages, links are provided for other options.

+

* '''Number of titles on recent changes''': You may select the number of changes which will be shown by default on the [[Meta:Help:Recent changes|Recent Changes]] and [[Meta:Help:Watching pages|Watchlist]] page. Once on those pages, links are provided for other options.

−

* '''Hide minor edits in recent changes'''. Registered users may choose to mark edits as being minor (meaning fixes too trivial for trusting users to check up on). It applies to [[MediaWiki User's Guide: The Recent Changes page|Recent Changes]] and [[MediaWiki User's Guide: The enhanced Recent Changes page|Enhanced Recent Changes]], but not to the [[MediaWiki User's Guide: Using the Watchlist|Watchlist]]. It also affects [[MediaWiki User's Guide: The Related Changes function|Related changes]], but currently in an odd way: if the last edit of a page linking to the current page was minor, then neither that nor the last major change is shown.

+

* '''Hide minor edits in recent changes'''. Registered users may choose to mark edits as being minor (meaning fixes too trivial for trusting users to check up on). It applies to [[Meta:Help:Recent changes|Recent Changes]] and [[Meta:Help:Enhanced recent changes|Enhanced Recent Changes]], but not to the [[Meta:Help:Watching pages|Watchlist]]. It also affects [[Meta:Help:Recent changes|Related changes]], but currently in an odd way: if the last edit of a page linking to the current page was minor, then neither that nor the last major change is shown.

* '''Enhanced recent changes''' (not for all browsers). Group recent changes per day by article, display the titles of the changed articles in order from new to old latest change, or in the case of hiding minor edits, latest major change.

* '''Enhanced recent changes''' (not for all browsers). Group recent changes per day by article, display the titles of the changed articles in order from new to old latest change, or in the case of hiding minor edits, latest major change.

User data

User data
Your email*:
o Disable e-mail from other users
Your nickname (for signatures):
Change password
Old password:
New password:
Retype new password:
o Remember password across sessions
* Real name (optional): if you choose to provide it this will be used
for giving you attribution for your work.
* Email (optional): Enables people to contact you through the website
without you having to reveal your email address to them, and it can be
used to send you a new password if you forget it.

Your e-mail: You may optionally register your e-mail address (it will not be shown publicly on the site). This will enable you to reset your password by clicking the "Mail me a new password" box on the log in screen, if you forget it. Additionally, it will enable other registered users to send e-mail to you from the "E-mail this user" link on your user page unless you've checked the disable box (see below).

Disable e-mail from other users: If you check this, users will not be able to send you e-mail by way of the "E-mail this user" feature.

Your nickname

Although your username is not necessarily your real name and could therefore be called a nickname, the term "nickname" is used here for a name you may optionally specify, different from your username, for when you enter your signature with ~~~ or ~~~~. However, there is even more versatility. The software enters [[User:Name| in front and ]] in the back of your signature. So entering ]] | [[User talk:Name|Talk as your signature will also include a link to your talk page.

Also you can add a separator, so that the signature looks something like this: — Name | Talk. The code [[User:Name| in front of whatever you put in this box can be effectively cancelled putting <nowiki></nowiki>]] at the front of your nick. Thus you can put e.g. <nowiki></nowiki>]] &mdash; [[User:Name|Name]] | [[User talk:Name|Talk.

You can also include font tags, images, and templates, but until version 1.4 a signature with a template can not be used more than five times on one page. Note that changes in the images and templates are retroactive, which on one hand may be confusing, but on the other hand, to rectify annoying signatures, may be convenient. To avoid retroactivity, use a new image or template name.

using another nickname than your username is confusing (the page history shows your username, not your nickname)

if you show your username as an image, or with letters replaced by special characters, even if the name is still readable, searching a talk page for your username will fail

excessive signatures may clutter talk pages

drawing excessive attention to yourself may create the impression that you find yourself more important than other people

If you use the edit toolbar for signing, remember that it gives two dashes before the four tildes.

Password

To change your password, enter your old password, the new password, and the new password a second time. (If you're merely changing the other preferences, you do not need to enter your password.)

Remember password across sessions. Enabling this feature will place an HTTP cookie in your browser's cache, which will allow MediaWiki to recognize you each time you visit the page. You will not have to log in each time you visit.

If you want to use remember my password you have to change your password if it was generated by Mediawiki and emailed to you. This is a security feature but very often causes trouble for new users.

Interface language

One can specify an interface language. It shows the default messages, not those in the MediaWiki namespace. Note that some contain internal links, with the name of a page in the interface language project but without the corresponding prefix; therefore these links in general do not work, unless redirects are made.

QuickBar settings

This selection only works in the Classic and Cologne Blue skins (see below). In Monobook there is a left panel anyway; in Nostalgia there is none.

This is the list of links to the various special pages. You may optionally have it appear at the right or left side of each page. There's no option yet to have it appear at the top or bottom of the page.

The "fixed" quickbar will appear at the top corner of the page, while the "floating" quickbar will appear at the top corner of the browser window instead of scrolling with the article text. Floating quickbars may not float correctly on old or mobile browsers.

The QuickBar must be enabled to allow you access to some features such as moving (renaming) a page, and in the case of Classic, also to arrive at the Special Pages, unless you type the URL.

Skin

Skin
O Classic
O Nostalgia
O Cologne Blue
O MonoBook
O MySkin

A MediaWiki skin is a style of page display. There are differences in the HTML code the system produces (but probably not in the page body), and also different style sheets are used.

The default is the new Monobook skin; what was called Standard is here in the preferences called Classic (not to be confused with the even older Nostalgia), but the system uses "wikistandard" in the naming of css files.

Links at the edges of the page are in different positions. Some links are not present in every skin. In Nostalgia some links are in a drop-down menu instead of directly visible.

Cologne Blue has a fixed font size unless one specifies in the browser "ignore font sizes specified in the webpage"; even then the line height is fixed; therefore this skin is hardly suitable for a large font.

In Monobook the width of the panel on the left is dependent on the font size. Therefore, with a large font, the width of the main part of the page is smaller than with other skins.

For Classic with a quickbar and a large font a CSS setting to reduce the size of the quickbar text may be necessary. This depends on the project, specifically on the length of the longest word in the quickbar. If that does not fit in the designated width, there are complications depending on the browser. In Internet Explorer the quickbar overlaps the main text and a vertical line which is intended to separate the two, crosses the main text. In some other browsers the problem does not arise if the quickbar is on the right.

Since there is word wrapping but no wrapping within a word, the longest word and not the longest full label is the criterion:

"contributions" - English and French Wikipedia and Meta - short, large font is possible

"Beobachtungsliste" - German Wikipedia - long - large font is hardly useable

"Foutenrapportage" - Dutch Wikipedia - ditto

"Gebruikersbydraes" - Afrikaans - ditto

To use the full width of the screen for the main text, use Classic without quickbar or Nostalgia. The drawback is that links are missing to the special pages and your user page, respectively.

MediaWiki allows you to enter mathematical equations as TeX code. These options let you control how that code is rendered into PNG images.

Always render PNG: Always make a PNG image from the TeX code.

HTML if very simple or else PNG: If the TeX code is very simple, like "x = 3", render it as HTML. For more complex code, render as PNG.

HTML if possible or else PNG: This option tries really hard to use HTML, but if it's too complicated, then it renders it as PNG. This option does not show a^{b^c} correctly! It shows the c at base level, which is not just a matter of being ugly, but it makes formulas wrong!. A workaround is to add "\,\!": a^{b^{\,\!2+2}}. With the current settings you get <math>a^{b^c}</math> and <math>a^{b^{\,\!c}}</math>

Leave it as TeX: Don't convert the TeX code, just show it. This is primarily for text-based browsers like Lynx.

Recommended for modern browsers. If you use a web browser that was released in the past year or so, use this option.

By default the rendering is as usual for links. However one can specify as preference that all of the first five are rendered the same, in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th way. If the 4th or 5th way is selected, the 6th and 7th line are not affected.
If the 2nd or 3rd way is selected, the 6th and 7th line are rendered accordingly, without the year.

Note that using this date formatting feature in section headers complicates section linking: a link to a section with a variable date format has to in a fixed date format, which works only for users for whom the formats match. Thus, if you want to be able to use links like w:November_2004#November_1.2C_2004, in the calendar at the upper right of the month pages on Wikipedia, or links elsewhere to the section about a particular day (if they also use the default format), you cannot use the date formatting feature.

Editing

Editing
Rows: Columns:
o Edit box has full width
o Show edit toolbar
o Show preview before edit box and not after it
o Add pages you edit to your watchlist
o Mark all edits minor by default

Rows, Columns. Here you can set up your preferred dimensions for the textbox used for editing page text.

Edit box has full width. If this box is checked, the edit box (when you click "Edit this page") will be the width of the browser window, minus the quickbar width.

Show edit toolbar. In compatible browsers, a toolbar with editing buttons can be displayed.

Show preview before edit box and not after it. If you select this option, the preview will be displayed above the exit box when you click the "Show preview" button while editing a page.

Add pages you edit to your watchlist. If this option is selected, any articles that you create or modify will be automatically added to your watchlist.

Mark all edits minor by default. This option automatically selects the "This is a minor edit" checkbox when you edit pages.

Time zone

Time zone
Server time is now: 06:34
Local time display: 08:34
Offset*:
* Enter number of hours your local time differs from server time (UTC).

Time diff. This is the number of hours to be added or subtracted from UTC to find your time zone. This time zone is used when calculating displayed page update timestamps, and may become temporarily incorrect from time to time if you observe daylight saving time -- don't forget to update it to match your local time, because the Wiki doesn't know where you are or precisely when you celebrate DST. (Also, the server's clock may be slightly offset from reality, much as Wikipedia articles may be.) A scattering of typical (and possibly incorrect!) time diff values are below. If yours isn't listed, try this link or add and subtract a few hours as needed.

In referring to non-localized events, including things that happen on the wiki.

Keep this in mind when copying an excerpt from Recent Changes, a revision history listing, etc. to a Talk page. Convert manually to UTC or temporarily set the preferences to a zero offset before producing the revision history etc. to be copied.

Recent changes and stub display

Number of titles on recent changes: You may select the number of changes which will be shown by default on the Recent Changes and Watchlist page. Once on those pages, links are provided for other options.

Hide minor edits in recent changes. Registered users may choose to mark edits as being minor (meaning fixes too trivial for trusting users to check up on). It applies to Recent Changes and Enhanced Recent Changes, but not to the Watchlist. It also affects Related changes, but currently in an odd way: if the last edit of a page linking to the current page was minor, then neither that nor the last major change is shown.

Enhanced recent changes (not for all browsers). Group recent changes per day by article, display the titles of the changed articles in order from new to old latest change, or in the case of hiding minor edits, latest major change.